Riding the Raisina Tiger

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Saturday, 14 December 2013

A bomb mounted on
a fighter jet got hooked off during an official drill and went off at the
Ambala Air Force Station around 10.30 am here today. The explosion sent a large
number of splinters up in the air which fell on the houses in the entire Baldev
Nagar area, including the Deputy Commissioner’s residence, about a kilometre
from the air base.

While no loss of
life or property was reported, the explosion shattered the windowpanes of a
large number of houses near the air base. CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in the
city and was scheduled to fly from the same zone at the time of explosion. This
put the district police and the civil administration on high alert with senior
officials, including police commissioner, DC and deputy commissioner of police,
rushing to the air base to take stock of the situation.

It was learnt that
a massive bomb mounted on the fighter jet’s hardpoint (weapon station) came off
immediately as the plane took off. The trajectory of the bomb was towards the
inhabited areas.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131214/nation.htm#3

VK Singh seeks
quashing of breach of privilege motion against him

Tribune News
Service

Jammu, December 13

The Secretariat of
the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly today made it public the reply of
the breach of privilege motion notice served on former Army Chief, General VK
Singh (retd). General Singh had given the reply to the notice on November 10,
2013, and the state government today made it public.

In his reply to
the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the former Army Chief made it clear
that he has utmost regard for all the democratic institutions of the nation,
inter alia, all the Legislative Assemblies and Houses of Parliament as also all
the members and functionaries thereof.

"In response
to the allegations levelled against me vide the breach of privilege motion
moved by certain members of your House, I most respectfully point out that
various quotes ascribed to me are inaccurate and incorrect to the extent of
being 'misquotes'. I have not spoken anything whatsoever that could even
remotely affect or obstruct the functioning, decorum, dignity or position of
the legislature or any of the members thereof as also anything whatsoever that
shall impede the hon'ble members in carrying our their legislative
functions", General Singh stated in his reply.

Regarding his
controversial interview with a news channel, he said: "I further wish to
bring to your kind notice that during the course of the said interview, I have
not spoken anything that was not available in the public domain by way of
certain books already published or the WikiLeaks expose, prior to the said TV
interviews that were telecast on the news channels".

"I had
clarified the entire issue and defended the institution of Jammu and Kashmir
against the slander that was published by several newspapers as also the
electric media, thereby, leaving no ambiguity whatsoever as to the stand I had
taken in the alleged TV interview", he clarified.

"I further
wish to point out that whatever I had spoken during the course of the said
interviews is based on the information I received from my colleagues and
subordinates and also during the discharge of my duties in compliance of the
directives of my superiors. The position last held by me was that of the Chief
of the Army Staff of Indian Army and my immediate superior was the hon'ble
Raksha Mantri of the Union Government. That the same are duly recorded, audited
and documented by competent authorities of the Union Government. If this
hon'ble House or your good self require perusing any such records then the same
may be requisitioned from the competent authorities or the Union Government in
the right earnest", the reply stated.

"Therefore,
with all the humility at my command, I reiterate and reassure your good self
and the august Assembly that my intention and motives are bona fide and none of
my acts is ever directed at lowering the prestige or violating privilege of the
Jammu and Kashmir Legislature neither to obstruct or adversely affect the
functioning of the House and the hon'ble members thereof, for whom I have
always had utmost regard and I hold them in high esteem", he said in his
reply.

"Therefore,
in the light of the facts and circumstances hereinabove mentioned, it is
respectfully submitted that the allegations as levelled against me by way of
the breach of privilege motion moved by the hon'ble Members of this Legislative
Assembly, are not made out and appear to be a case of misinformation. Therefore,
the same my kindly be quashed by your good self and no further proceedings in
this thereto may kindly be carried out in the interests of the justice",
General Singh stated.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131214/nation.htm#4

Sign security pact
with US, India tells Afghanistan

Ashok Tuteja

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 13

Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh is understood to have counselled Afghanistan President Hamid
Karzai to shed his reluctance and expedite the inking of a Bilateral Security
Agreement (BSA) with the United States as it was aimed at ensuring the security
and stability of his war-torn nation.

At a meeting here
this afternoon, the PM told Karzai that Washington was keen to ensure that the
situation in Afghanistan did not worsen after the withdrawal of NATO forces in
2014, sources said.

The BSA will
mandate the size and shape of the US military presence in Afghanistan after the
drawdown by foreign troops. Karzai has refused to sign the BSA unless his
conditions are met. These include the release of all Afghan prisoners from
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and an end to military operations and searches involving
Afghan homes.

Yesterday, a top
official of the Obama administration had urged New Delhi to use its good
offices to convince Karzai to ink the crucial accord. President Obama had
himself taken up the issue with Manmohan Singh when they met in Washington in
September.

Karzai, meanwhile,
is learnt to have brief Manmohan Singh on the situation in Afghanistan and
reiterated his demand that New Delhi supply military hardware to his troubled
nation to strengthen its security.

Asked if India had
taken any decision on Karzai’s ‘wish-list’, sources said it was on the table,
indicating India was still weighing the pros and cons of supplying heavy
weaponry to Kabul. Afghanistan has sought nearly 150 main battle tanks, field
guns, mortars, transport aircraft, attack helicopters and truck to beef up
security.

India apparently
does not want to disturb regional sensitivities, particularly with respect to
Pakistan which would obviously view any such move with suspicion. There are
also apprehensions in Indian defence circles that these weapons could
ultimately fall into the hands of the Taliban.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131214/nation.htm#9

US award to Army Chief triggers row

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 13

The Ministry of
Defence has asked Army Chief General Bikram Singh to explain why he received an
award from the US Army without government clearance.

The Army Chief was
conferred the ‘Legion of Merit’, the sixth-highest American military honour,
during his visit to the US from December 2 to 5. The MoD has claimed it came to
know about it only through media reports after the conferment as it was not part
of the itinerary provided prior to the visit. The MoD has argued that Services
Chiefs have to get government clearance to receive foreign honours.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131214/nation.htm#11

India rejects OIC
resolution on Kashmir

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 13

India on Friday
rejected the reference made about Jammu and Kashmir by the Organisation of
Islamic Conference (OIC) at its meeting at Conakry in Guinea earlier this week.
“We note with regret that the OIC has once against made factually incorrect and
misleading references about India, including Jammu and Kashmir, which is an
integral part of India. We reject all such references and resolutions,’’ MEA
spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.

He said the OIC
has no locus standi on the internal affairs of India or on recent incidents on
the LoC. At the instance of Islamabad, the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting, in
its resolution, strongly supported the efforts of Pakistan for a peaceful
resolution of the Kashmir issue and urged India to remain engaged in a
meaningful and sustained dialogue process with Pakistan on all outstanding
issues, including the ‘core’ issue of Kashmir.

The resolution
also expressed concern at the frequent ceasefire violations by ‘Indian forces’
along the LoC since the beginning of 2013 while appreciating Pakistan for
following the policy of restraint, responsibility and dialogue.

NEW DELHI — A
dispute with Russia over technology transfer for the Invar anti-tank missile
has prompted India’s Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL) to contact domestic companies
to help develop the missile’s critical guidance electronics.

The Russians
refused to give India the technology for the guidance system for the missile,
which will be fired from India’s Russian-made T-90 tanks, despite agreeing to
the transfer for licensed production of the missiles, according to a BDL
official.

The Indian
government approved an Army proposal in October 2012 to acquire 20,000 Invar
missiles, but the contract had to wait until August because the government
insisted on technology transfer.

The Russians
agreed to grant a license for production of the missile and the transfer of
technology in August, when a US $470 million contract was signed, the BDL
official said.

State-owned BDL,
which will manufacture the Invar missiles, has not been given the key
technology for the missile’s laser beam-riding guidance system, the official
said.

“Usually, the contract with
the Russians, or for that matter the French Milan anti-tank guided missiles,
includes transferring the production process, including the details like
chemical composition and process for propellant and warhead,” the official said.
“However, in the case of the Invar missile, no technology transfer has been
given for the laser beam-riding guidance.”

But according to a diplomat at
the Russian Embassy here, “The technology for the guidance system was not part
of the agreement.”

BDL has decided to approach
domestic industry to develop the critical guidance electronics for the Invar.
Domestic private sector companies, including Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power
SED and Godrej, will be asked to collaborate with BDL to develop the laser beam-riding
guidance system.

India signed the contract to
buy the Invar missiles for the T-90 because the Army said there was a critical
missile shortage, an Indian Ministry of Defence source said.

The Invar has a range of five
kilometers and a tandem warhead that penetrates a tank’s armor up to 35 inches
before detonating.

Fired from the 125mm gun of
the T-90 tank, the missile is guided along a laser beam that can be controlled
by the tank gunner. BDL has been manufacturing the Invar under technical
collaboration with Russia’s Rosoboronexport, but it wants the technology for
the laser guidance.

India fast-tracked the
purchase of ammunition, including the Invar, after former Army Chief Gen. V.K.
Singh warned the MoD in 2011 of a critical shortage of ammunition.

India placed its first order
for 310 T-90s in 2001, and thereafter began licensed production of the tanks at
the state-owned Heavy Vehicles Factory.

In 2011, Indian
Army chief General VK Singh wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
that sent ripples across the country. In the letter, Gen Singh wrote that the
Indian Army's combat weapons were in such a poor condition that they made India
unfit for war.

Whether Gen Singh
wrote that letter for professional gain or to realise personal ambitions may
never be truly known. But the letter’s content did bring to the fore important
issues plaguing the country’s defence forces — dismal military modernisation,
poor defence preparedness and strained civil-military relations.

It is this taut
tightrope of policy making and execution that Arackaparambil Kurien Antony has
been treading on for the last seven years, making him, at the ripe age of 73,
India’s longest-serving defence minister. Known for his carefully crafted
'non-corrupt' but 'status-quoist' image, Antony took over as defence minister
from predecessor Pranab Mukherjee in October 2006. The only other person to have
had a long stint as head of the ministry of defence was Babu Jagjivan Ram; he
served as the country’s defence minister for six years over two terms — first
from 1970-1974 under the Congress government and then again between 1977-1979
in the Janta Party government.

Antony failed to
respond to several requests for an interview and did not respond to a
questionnaire sent for this article.

Person

Born in a
Syrian-Catholic family in Cherthala, near Alleppey in Kerala, Antony has
managed to remain equidistant from the church and from corruption. He has spent
a better part of his four-decades plus political career occupying powerful
positions. He assumed office as a cabinet minister under the PV Narsimha
Rao-led Congress government in the 1990s, served three terms as the chief
minister of Kerala and served at the Centre again under the Congress-led UPA 1
and UPA 2 governments. Antony was ranked among the 10 most powerful persons in
the country by a leading, national daily in 2012.

While Antony
himself has steered clear of controversies in the last seven years, he has
antogonised the Army, Navy, Air Force and the strategic community. Among other
things, they are riled by the defence ministry’s opposition to the creation of
the office of a permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (COSC) as
recommended by the Naresh Chandra task force on defence reforms.

"He (Antony)
is certainly an honest politician with impeccable integrity. But
simultaneously, he is also the worst defence minister India has seen in the
last 65 years,” said retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak. Kak based his
observation on the “sad delay” in India’s military modernisation and also on
Antony’s “self obsessed” nature which, Kak says, is likely to have disastrous
implications on the country’s defence preparedness. Kak served in the Indian
Air Force for nearly four decades.

“His personal honesty cannot
prevent corruption in the ministry. Scams continue to take place, adding to
delays and creating impediments for genuine projects,” said a retired senior
army official pleading anonymity.

A senior journalist from
Kerala, Hari Kumar, points to Antony’s past to say: “He carefully plans his
resignation such that he moves to a better and more powerful assignment.” When
Antony resigned from Narsimha Rao's cabinet, he was made chief minister of
Kerala. A year after he resigned as Kerala chief minister in 2004, he was made
the Union defence minister.

Procurement

Defence procurement under
Antony’s tenure has taken a setback, with several deals, such as Tatra trucks
and AugustaWestland choppers, being scrutinised over alleged irregularities and
kickbacks. This is apparent by the continuing absence in the Indian Army of
towed and self-propelled 155mm howitzers for the plains and the mountains,
according to Gurmeet Kanwal of the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence
Studies and Analysis (IDSA). “The Air Force’s plan to acquire 126
multi-mission, medium-range combat aircraft to maintain an edge over the
regional air is also stuck in the procurement quagmire,” wrote Kanwal in a
recent IDSA paper.

Under Antony, the Defence
Procurement Procedure (DPP) has been amended several times, most recently in April
2013, to strengthen the scrutiny in the system. “In effect, it still favours
the defence PSUs over the private sector. MNCs are allowed to bring in only up
to 26 per cent FDI as against 74 per cent for non-defence sector joint
ventures," wrote Kanwal. Many analysts feel that even the indigenisation
of defence technology, vehemently advocated by Antony, is a ploy to appease
public sector undertakings, who consider him to be their “my baap”.

The Parliamentary Standing
Committee on defence in its report presented to the Parliament this April
stated that there has been a “steady decline” in the number of defence
contracts signed during the 11th five-year plan period from 2007-08 to 2011-12.
The number of contracts signed each year during the 11th plan period is 84 in
2007-08, 61 in 2008-09, 49 in 2009-10, 50 in 2010-11 and 52 in 2011-12, said
the report.

Insiders say that bureaucrats
in the defence ministry have sufficient power to scuttle defence deals as
Antony is known to give a free hand to the bureaucracy. Many claim this helps
Antony, an atheist who follows spiritual guru Mata Amritanandamayi, save his
skin when controversies erupt.

India is expected to spend
approximately $100 billion over the 12th and 13th defence five-year plans on
military modernisation. “We need a person who is not pro-self, but pro-India,
and can thus utilise the resources to the best, rather than sit on files for
the sake of personal, intangible gains,” said Kak.

Professor Srikant Kondapali of
the Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University said: “Antony
cannot function in a vacuum. He may wish to spend a trillion dollars on defence
procurements, but does the country’s defence budget allow him to do so?
Besides, India is procuring equipment and things are moving.”

Manoj Joshi, a senior
journalist and an expert on national security affairs, says that Antony’s term
has been one of “failure and missed opportunities.” “Here is the need to
integrate the training, logistics, acquisition and some war-fighting functions
of the three services to obtain the biggest bang for the buck. It is
unfortunate that India usually commits itself to reform after it is hit by a
crisis,” said Joshi.

Policy

Critics say that Antony has
failed to show clarity on what the defence ministry stands for. Even though he
customarily mentions China as a 'challenge' and 'potential enemy number one' —
words earlier used by then defence minister George Fernandes in 1998 — Antony
fails to put forth his stance or vision for India vis-a-vis its neighbours.

The challenges for the defence
ministry have only been increasing and with the rise in the number of ceasefire
violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control and repeated incursions by
China on the Line of Actual Control, the defence minister cannot afford to be
viewed as indifferent.

"Unfortunately ministries
are busy outsmarting each other at most times, and fail to make any clear
policy or even a statement,” said Kondapali, who believes that India’s defence
policy has been consistent over the years.

But the fact that the ministry
of defence is without military expertise and has no formal strategic thinker
cannot be overlooked. This theory of hollowed leadership is made apparent by
reports that the National Security Council, an advisory body, has met just once
in the last three years.

Besides, Antony has been
skipping events that are strategic from a defence diplomacy perspective. In
June, Antony refused to attend the ShangriLa Dialogue convened by the
International Institute of Strategic Studies on defence issues in Singapore.
Two months later, in August, he skipped the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting
(ADMM) as well as a meet organised by the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

The fact that Antony chose not
to meet the defence ministers of the United States, China, Japan, Russia,
Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand reflects that “defence diplomacy and
building strategic relationships” even with neighbours and stakeholders is not
high on his radar.

2009: Alleged kickbacks paid
in deal for supply of components for Arjun battle tanks bought from SIFL and
AMW-MGM

2009: Controversy erupted over
Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai. Meant for widows of, retired and serving army
personnel, flats in the skyrise located in a prime area were allotted to
scheming officials; several rules were flouted in the process

2007: Malpractice reported in
the supply of rations to troops in high altitude areas

NEW DELHI: An Army officer's wife has moved
the Supreme Court seeking a technologically sound voting mechanism for armed
forces personnel posted in remote areas, alleging that the existing postal
ballot system had not been of any use to them, their wives and adult children
in casting votes.

Petitioner Neela
Gokhale, who is also an advocate, said, "The Election Commission is taking
several measures to reach out to voters in remotest locations but it is
unfortunate that there have been no adequate and appropriate step taken to
facilitate the Indian armed forces personnel to cast their votes."

She said personnel
in the 1.13 million strong Army were drawn from every nook and corner of the
country and many were deployed in remote parts of the country - from the
glacial heights of Siachen and jungles of north-east to the deserts of the
west.

"Thus, a vast
population of the country and their spouses and eligible children are precluded
and deprived from exercising their franchise because of an inefficient and
inadequate mechanism employed for casting their votes in general
elections," the petitioner said. The PIL is likely to be taken up by the
apex court on Friday.

The Representation
of People Act, 1951 and the rules there-under allow soldiers an option to
exercise their franchise by postal ballot or by proxy voting method.
"However, both these mechanisms have not been able to yield satisfactory
results due to certain inherent deficiencies," Gokhale claimed and raised
two issues relating to voting by armed forces personnel and family members
residing at the place of posting.

"The first
issue is registration of a member of armed forces and his family members
eligible to vote to be included in the electoral roll, and the second issue is
related to an effective mechanism to allow them to cast the vote in the
constituency where the particular armed forces personnel is registered,"
she said.

The alternative to
postal ballot through proxy voting, which was brought into existence through
Election Law (Amendment) Act, 2003, allowed armed forces personnel, or any
other service voter like him, to fill Form 13F of the rules and specify the
proxy appointed by him, get it attested as per the procedure and register as a
classified service voter.

Gokhale faulted
the proxy voting procedure as a violation of the principle of secrecy, cardinal
to casting of vote. In addition to the violation of secrecy, "the entire
process of nomination of a proxy itself is very cumbersome, making it difficult
for a service voter or his family members to comply with the requirements and
cast vote", she said.

"Therefore,
the soldiers may be conferred the right to be registered as voters in the
constituency where they are serving/posted at the relevant time, as ordinary
residents of that constituency. This will enable the personnel to cast their
vote in person and even reduce the expense involved in the postal ballot system
and complications in the proxy procedure without compromising the secrecy of
vote," she said.

As part of its efforts to enhance Afghan
National Army (ANA) capability, India has been training a large number of
cadets from that country. Now, 52 cadets, who form the second-largest batch of
Afghan soldiers to have completed training, will pass out of the Indian
Military Academy (IMA) on Saturday.

The passing-out
parade will be witnessed by 16 senior officers of the Afghan Army, who
themselves trained at the Academy between 1974 and 1982. Many of them would be
accompanied by their wifes and children. These officers include Musa Khan
Akbarzada, now Governor of the Ghazni Province, and Mehrabulddin Safi, Governor
of Kapisa.

The Army said that
from 1974 to 1982, as many as 37 Afghans attended one-year training as cadets
at the IMA, after training for three years at the National Defence Academy or
the ACC Wing. Thereafter, training at the IMA was suspended due to the fighting
between the Mujahideen and the Soviet Army.

However, ever
since training resumed at the National Defence Academy in 2007 and at the IMA
in 2011, a very large number of ANA officers have been trained there. Many
officers, who had passed out till 1982, achieved high-ranking jobs in the
Afghan Army and in government and civic offices.

The proposal to
invite these officers for Saturday’s parade was mooted in February this year.

The Ministries of
External Affairs and Defence subsequently approved a proposal for 20 ex-IMA
officers to visit India, with their spouses, for a week this month. Finally, 16
officers with 11 spouses and 13 children arrived on December 10.

Forty-eight cadets
each are still in the first and second terms at the IMA. The 52 cadets from the
ANA are the second biggest after the batch of 58 which completed training in
December 2012.

Now on, India
intends training nearly 1,000 ANA soldiers in various defence establishments
every year. The ANA personnel are undergoing specialised courses at the
Artillery School, Devlali; the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre,
Ahmednagar, and the Infantry School, Mhow, apart from in the IMA and the NDA.

The training of
Afghan officers is of great strategic importance to India as it prepares for a
larger role after the proposed withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition from the
country from 2014.

Besides making the
ANA capable enough to handle internal security once nearly a lakh foreign
soldiers leave the war-ravaged nation, New Delhi is considering a request from
Kabul for military equipment to deal with any surge in the activities of the
Taliban or the Haqqani network in Afghanistan.

India also wants
to curb these forces so that there will be no “spillover effect” in Jammu and
Kashmir.

The process of defence procurements is so
complex that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face several hurdles in
entering the sector, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry
president R. Shivakumar said here on Thursday.

SMEs should be
given greater opportunities in the defence sector, he said and added that at
least 30 per cent of defence procurements could come from SMEs.

Mr. Shivakumar was
speaking at the MSME Defexpo 2013, an international sub-contracting and supply
exhibition on defence, aerospace and home security.

On the defence
perspective, Major General Sanjeev Shukla said that if MSMEs ensure that the
standards of their products are at par with international ones, the Indian Army
will be able to accommodate up to 70 per cent of their purchases indigenously.
“Two and three-tier vendors, in particular, could contribute in a large way,”
he said. “Indigenisation is key to the entire industry,” he added.

While MSMEs have
great opportunities in the defence sector, indigenisation of products has been
“limited”, and “links between companies and buyers need to be built”, said H.P.
Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of the National Small Industries
Corporation. “We need to strengthen linkages in the supply chain,” he said.

Union Minister of
State for MSMEs K.H. Muniyappa said that local production and capabilities
should be encouraged especially with regard to defence products. “Indian
products are as good as products anywhere else in the world,” he said.

Crowd-puller

Among the stalls
representing defence manufacturing companies and defence public sector
companies, including HAL and BEML, an unlikely exhibit by a “military general
store”, which supplies uniforms to all armed forces in south India, turned out
to be the biggest crowd puller.